Wyatt Merle Kilgore (August 9, 1934 – February 6, 2005) was an American singer, songwriter, and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. Born in Chickasha, Oklahoma, he was raised in

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, Lo ...

. At the time of his death, he was the personal manager of Hank Williams Jr."Country Legend Merle Kilgore Dies." ''Billboard''. February 7, 2005
Accessed June 2, 2016

Early life

Although born in

Chickasha, Oklahoma Chickasha is a city in and the county seat of Grady County, Oklahoma, Grady County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 16,051 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, a 0.1% increase from 2010. The city is named for and strongly ...

, United States, Kilgore was raised in

. He was the son of Wyatt and Gladys B. (Clowers) Kilgore. As a boy of 14 he carried the guitar for

Hank Williams Hiram "Hank" Williams (September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. An early pioneer of country music, he is regarded as one of the most significant and influential musicians of the 20th century. W ...

at the

Louisiana Hayride ''Louisiana Hayride'' is a radio and later television country music show that was broadcast from the Shreveport Municipal Memorial Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana; during its heyday from 1948 to 1960, it helped to launch the careers of some ...

, beginning a close relationship with the Williams family that would last three generations. He attended school at C. E. Byrd High School and then

Louisiana Tech University Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public university, public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and Carnegie Classification of Institu ...

Career

Kilgore went on to a career as a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

recording artist but had great success as a songwriter, co-writing with June Carter the song "

Ring of Fire The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) is a tectonic belt of volcanoes and earthquakes. It is about long and up to about wide, and surrounds most of the Pa ...

", first recorded by her sister

Anita Carter Ina Anita Carter (March 31, 1933 – July 29, 1999) was an American singer who played upright bass, guitar, and autoharp. She performed with her sisters, Helen and June, and her mother, Maybelle, initially under the name The Carter Sisters a ...

and later by June's future husband,

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

(Kilgore was a distant cousin of the Carter sisters through their maternal grandmother, Margaret Kilgore Addington); June, later known as June Carter Cash, would record her own version of the song for her album '' Press On'', released in 1999. He also co-wrote Claude King's big crossover hit, " Wolverton Mountain". Amongst others, he also penned "Johnny Reb" for

Johnny Horton John LaGale Horton (April 30, 1925 – November 5, 1960) was an American country, honky tonk, and rockabilly musician during the 1950s. He is best known for a series of history-inspired narrative country saga songs that became international ...

and the Tommy Roe pop music hit, " The Folk Singer". In the early 1960s, he toured with Cash as part of his package show. He stood as Johnny Cash's best man at his wedding to June Carter.

Business and music interests

A resident of Paris, Tennessee, from 1986, he was also a prominent member of the business community. On April 7, 1986, he was named Executive Vice President and head of management of Hank Williams Jr. Enterprises. In addition to managing

Hank Williams Jr Randall Hank Williams (born May 26, 1949), known professionally as Hank Williams Jr. or Bocephus, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style has been described as a blend of rock music, rock, blues, and country music, count ...

's career (along with that of Hank Jr's Bama Band), Kilgore managed a number of other artists from his Nashville office. Kilgore also had a number of successful business ventures and held numerous leadership positions. Kilgore's prominence in the country music community had grown through his involvement as Vice President of the

Country Music Association The Country Music Association (CMA) is an American trade association with the stated aim of promoting and developing country music throughout the world. Founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee, it originally consisted of 233 members and was the f ...

, and he had served on the CMA board of directors. Also contributing to his success was his position as President of both the Nashville Songwriter's Foundation as well as the Nashville Songwriter's Association International. In 1987, he was named an honorary State Senator for Tennessee. In 1993, Kilgore was inducted into the Louisiana Hall of Fame in

Lafayette, Louisiana Lafayette ( , ) is the most populous city in and parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, Lafayette Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located along the Vermilion River (Louisiana), Vermilion River. It is Louisiana's List of municipaliti ...

, and into Shreveport's Byrd High School Hall of Fame. In 1998, Kilgore received the Legendary Songwriters' Award from the North American County Music Association. He hosted and performed at NSAI's Tin Pan South Legendary Songwriter's Acoustic Concert and was presented an award honoring him as "one of the world's outstanding songwriters." Kilgore had also served two terms as President of ROPE, International (Reunion of Professional Entertainers, Int.).

Organizations and honors

Kilgore was a long-time member of the

Academy of Country Music The Academy of Country Music (ACM) was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Among the founders were Eddie Miller (songwriter), Eddie Miller, Tommy Wiggins, and Mickey and Chris ...

and an active member of the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

. As well as belonging to the NSAI and the American Federation of Musicians, he served as a board member for several organizations including the Hank Williams Museum in

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama. Named for Continental Army major general Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River on the Gulf Coastal Plain. The population was 2 ...

, the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame and the

Tex Ritter Woodward Maurice "Tex" Ritter (January 12, 1905 – January 2, 1974) was a pioneer of American country music, a singer, and an actor from the mid-1930s into the 1960s. He was the patriarch of the Ritter acting family (son John Ritter, grandso ...

Museum, both in Carthage, Texas. He also directed the operations of two offices, Hank Williams Jr. Enterprises in Paris, Tennessee and Merle Kilgore Management in

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, where he managed several other artists, Joe Sins being his most prominent. In 1998, Kilgore was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2004, Kilgore was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.

Death

On February 6, 2005, Merle Kilgore died from heart failure while in a Mexican hospital undergoing experimental treatments for lung cancer, and was interred in Hendersonville Memory Gardens in

Hendersonville, Tennessee Hendersonville is the most populous city in Sumner County, Tennessee, on Old Hickory Lake. As of the 2020 census the city's population was 61,753. Hendersonville is the fourth-most populous city in the Nashville metropolitan area after Nas ...

. Kilgore was survived by his wife, Judy, three daughters, two sons, eight grandchildren and a great granddaughter.

Singles

References

External links

Official website

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Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kilgore, Merle 1934 births 2005 deaths People from Chickasha, Oklahoma Musicians from Shreveport, Louisiana C. E. Byrd High School alumni Louisiana Tech University alumni People from Paris, Tennessee American male singer-songwriters American country singer-songwriters Country musicians from Oklahoma Imperial Records artists Starday Records artists D Records artists Writers from Shreveport, Louisiana 20th-century American singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Tennessee Singer-songwriters from Oklahoma Singer-songwriters from Louisiana Country musicians from Tennessee Country musicians from Louisiana 20th-century American male singers